'I was stuck'

"He started making comments about me, touching my legs and putting his hands on me.

"Then gradually he started putting his hands up my skirt, touching my chest and I kept telling him to stop.

"I wanted to leave but I felt like I couldn't do anything. I felt powerless, like I was stuck."

The victim's family, from Essex, believes he should not have been allowed to stay at the school.

"I think the day he was found guilty he should have been excluded," her mother said.

"He should not be allowed near my daughter or any woman right now. I worry every single day, even now. I don't feel the boy was adequately punished at all."

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The NSPCC said calls to Childline about sex abuse by other children had increased

Figures obtained by the BBC show at least 6,289 sexual assaults took place in and around schools between 2015 and 2017 - and there was a 60% rise across those three years.

The data, which may include assaults on staff as well as pupils, was supplied by 26 of 45 police forces from England and Wales in a Freedom of Information request. Police Scotland did not give figures.

Some forces said certain offences took place outside school, or on the bus on the way to school.

Department for Education guidelines set out how schools should deal with a report of sexual assault and what to do after a pupil is convicted, with responses on a "case by case basis".

Anna Cole, inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said she suspected the rise was down to better reporting by individuals and schools.

"Schools know they can't take this lightly. It can't just be dismissed as 'banter' or a normal thing that happens anymore," she said.